Some sad news to report. Yasuhiro Noguchi, a senior producer at Sega of America, has left the company today. Yakuza fans should know him as pretty much the series’ greatest champion at SoA, being the guy who pretty much convinced the company to bring Yakuza 4 and Yakuza: Dead Souls over stateside. He was also a Senior Producer on Sonic Generations.
What this means for the future of the series stateside is unknown at this point, but hopefully someone else at SoA is willing to fight for the series as much as he did. We wish him well in all his future endeavors.
You can see his farewell post on Sega’s forums, or after the cut.
Source: Sega Forums
To everyone here on the SEGA/Yakuza forums,
Today is my last day here at SEGA.
I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with the Yakuza Team on bringing Yakuza 4 and Yakuza: Dead Souls to the West. I am happy I was able to present their vision of those games as they originally intended it.
I also had the honor and privilege of working with the Sonic Team on making Sonic Generations PS3/XB360 last year as the game’s Senior Producer for the West. The project meant a lot to me, as the game also represented the 20th Anniversary celebration of Sonic, our company’s awesome blue mascot.
I’m also grateful to everyone at SEGA West who worked with me to bring those games to you.
I am sad to leave the company, but I know I leave things in good hands. My colleagues will continue to bring Japan-developed SEGA games to the West with the love and care they deserve.
Thank you for your support!
Yas Noguchi
Tough news, I hope it never comes to this but I always fear SEGA will become what Atari is now…just a name and a shell of what the company used to be. We’re a far ways from that now, but with every person leaving SEGA, be it here or in Japan, that fear gets a little bigger.